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Nanoparticle monolayer sheets are ultrathin inorganic-organic hybrid materials that combine highly controllable optical and electrical properties with mechanical flexibility and remarkable strength. Like other thin sheets, their low bending…
We study mutual alignment and interactions between colloidal particles of dissimilar shapes and dimensions when dispersed in a nematic host fluid. Convex pentagonal and concave starfruit-shaped nanoprisms and microspheres induce dipolar or…
Black phosphorus (P), a layered material that can be isolated down to individual 2D crystalline sheets, exhibits highly anisotropic mechanical properties due to its corrugated crystal structure in each atomic layer, which are intriguing for…
The discrete and charge-separated nature of matter - electrons and nuclei - results in local electrostatic fields that are ubiquitous in nanoscale structures and are determined by their shape, material, and environment. Such fields are…
Bimetallic nanoparticles (BNPs) exhibit diverse morphologies such as core-shell, Janus, onion-like, quasi-Janus, and homogeneous structures. Although extensive effort has been directed towards understanding the equilibrium configurations of…
Mechanical metamaterials leverage geometric design to achieve unconventional properties, such as high strength at low density, efficient wave guiding, and complex shape morphing. The ability to control shape changes builds on the complex…
Advancing open atmosphere printing technologies to produce features in the nanoscale range has important and broad applications ranging from electronics, to photonics, plasmonics and biology. Recently an electrohydrodynamic printing regime…
We provide a two dimensional deformation model to describe how soft squishy circular particles respond to external forces and collisions. This model involves formulating mathematical equations and algorithms for the shape of a deformed…
Surface charges play a fundamental role in physics and chemistry, particularly in shaping the catalytic properties of nanomaterials. Tracking nanoscale surface charge dynamics remains challenging due to the involved length and time scales.…
We investigate how thin structures change their shape in response to non-mechanical stimuli that can be interpreted as variations in the structure's natural curvature. Starting from the theory of non-Euclidean plates and shells, we derive…
Direct design of complex functional materials would revolutionize technologies ranging from printable organs to novel clean energy devices. However, even incremental steps towards designing functional materials have proven challenging. If…
In this paper, we present a 2D numerical model developed to simulate the dynamics of soft, deformable particles. To accommodate significant particle deformations, the particle surface is represented as a narrow shell composed of mass points…
The ability of thin materials to shape-shift is a common occurrence that leads to dynamic pattern formation and function in natural and man-made structures. However, harnessing this concept to design inorganic structures at the nanoscale…
We present a phase-field model for simulating the solid-state dewetting of anisotropic crystalline films on non-planar substrates. This model exploits two order parameters to trace implicitly the crystal free surface and the substrate…
The physical gelation of colloids produces elastic structures that are commonly used to stabilize complex fluids in multiple industries. However, the ability to control the level of elastic modulus of these materials is limited by the…
Entropic forces in colloidal suspensions and in polymer-colloid systems are of long-standing and continuing interest. Experiments show how entropic forces can be used to control the self-assembly of colloidal particles. Significant advances…
Self-assembly of nanoparticles at fluid-fluid interfaces is a promising route to fabricate functional materials from the bottom-up. However, directing and controlling particles into highly tunable and predictable structures -- while…
We show that topological defects in an ion-doped nematic liquid crystal can be used to manipulate the surface charge distribution on chemically homogeneous, charge-regulating external surfaces, using a minimal theoretical model. In…
Curved structures in soft matter and biological systems commonly emerge as a result of self-assembly processes where building blocks aggregate in a controlled manner, giving rise to specific system structure and properties. Learning how to…
Cellular uptake of nanoplastics is instrumental in their environmental accumulation and transfer to humans through the food chain. Despite extensive studies using spherical plastic nanoparticles, the influence of the morphological…